Cameron's Avatar: Criticisms from the American Conservatives and Parallels with war in Iraq, and Discussions on Anti-Americanism

Director James Cameron’s movie Avatar was released in 2009 in the midst of a large media campaign and a lot of public attention largely due to, at first, its impressive, sophisticated 3-D real-life images and the high cost of production, but the stunning visual aspects of the movie soon became only a part of the heated discussion over the film. Avatar’s themes stirred strong reactions because many, especially Americans from all spectra of political inclination, heard former American President George W. Bush’s voice in the movie. The film sparked heated debate, but why such strong reactions? What is the reason it stirred angry responses from the people with certain political inclinations while the majority of Americans rooted the same message? Some praised Avatar and its director James Cameron for the messages in the movie, but others criticized the political stance on the themes the movie presented to the audience. In this regard, this paper aims to discuss the War in Pandora in the movie as parallel with the War in Iraq and respond to the charges of anti-Americanism to show that the content of the movie does not fit the criteria for such. In closing, the utilization of film as a powerful instrument of Education is stressed.